Blandford Select Board and veterans agent find communication gap at budget review

Select Board · Meeting of February 10, 2026

Blandford Select Board discovers communication breakdown with veterans agent, questions $10,000 fund. Chair Jacqueline Coury and members Ted Cousineau and Corinne Shartrand met via Zoom with the town's part-time veterans agent, identified only as Joe, who has held the position since approximately 2012. The board said it convened the meeting after noticing a $10,000 annual veterans services budget line that has gone largely unspent for years, with no Chapter 115 recipients in the town for more than a year.

Joe recommended reducing the appropriation to $5,000 and said his annual stipend is under $2,000. He walked the board through five state survey questions on Blandford's compliance with the Valor Act, including requirements for designated veterans parking spaces and property tax exemption adjustments, that board members said they were hearing about for the first time. No votes were taken; the parties agreed Joe would send the board the survey questions, Valor Act materials, and website recommendations, with further outreach to town veterans to follow.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of February 10, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.